{"id":117463,"date":"2025-08-03T21:27:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T01:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alotofsportstalk.com\/wp2\/?p=117463"},"modified":"2025-08-03T21:27:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T01:27:49","slug":"holy-trinity-washington-spirit-vs-portland-thorns-08-03-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alotofsportstalk.com\/wp2\/soccer\/117463\/holy-trinity-washington-spirit-vs-portland-thorns-08-03-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy Trinity (Washington Spirit vs. Portland Thorns; 08.03.25)"},"content":{"rendered":"ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n

\"akoiki-passport2\"<\/a> – by Adesina O. Koiki
\nA Lot of Sports Talk<\/em> editor-in-chief
\nFollow @Koiki_Sport<\/a> Follow @ALOST_Official<\/a><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Cheers raining down from the stands and tears running down her face, Trinity Rodman wrote a perfect ending to her comeback to competitive football that award-winning script writers would reject. But this isn’t Hollywood, it’s the NWSL, and one of the stars of the league is back to reclaim her position as one of the elite goal-scorers in the league.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Rodman, almost four months after she last appeared in a game, scored the game-winning goal in the 92nd<\/sup> minute after coming on as a substitute, lifting the Washington Spirit to a 2-1 in over the Portland Thorns inside Audi Field on Sunday afternoon. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One of the stars of the US Women’s National Team’s run to the gold medal in the Olympics last year in Paris, Rodman has barely been on the pitch since then, recovering from an ongoing back injury that has limited her to just four games this season \u2014 and no appearances since April 12. When she came on as a sub in the 72th<\/sup> minute today, doing so while getting a roaring standing ovation, the best hope for her and the Spirit was that she would get through the final 15 or so minutes with a clean bill of health.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Rodman did everyone one better.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The build-up to the game-winner started with a cross into the box from another substitute, Courtney Brown, that striker Croix Bethune got an outstretched left leg on to. Whether it was a clever redirection or a slice of luck, Bethune’s touch rolled right into the Rodman’s path on the far post, and the international star fired home a right-footed screamer that bulged the roof of the net to touch off raucous and emotional celebrations.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Soon after the ball bulged the net, Rodman let out a scream before burying her face in her hands as he cried while her Washington Spirit teammates huddled and celebrated around her. Before the celebration ended, Rodman, while wiping tears away from her eyes, could be observed saying “No way!” while making it back to the center line for the restart.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Rodman is now the first player in NWSL history with three stoppage time game-winners in regular season play, having scored such goals in 2021 and 2023.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Michael R. Smith. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and\/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 25 pictures in total.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Follow @Koiki_Sport<\/a> Follow @ALOST_Official<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

   – by Adesina O. Koiki A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official WASHINGTON \u2014 Cheers raining down from the stands and tears running down her face, Trinity Rodman wrote a perfect ending to her comeback to competitive football that award-winning script writers would reject. But this isn’t Hollywood, it’s the NWSL, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,12],"tags":[6204,6202,6203,6201],"class_list":["post-117463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photos","category-soccer","tag-national-womens-soccer-league","tag-portland-thorns","tag-trinity-rodman","tag-washington-spirit"],"yoast_head":"\nHoly Trinity (Washington Spirit vs. Portland Thorns; 08.03.25) - A Lot of Sports Talk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Making her return to the field after four months out injured, Trinity Rodman scored the game winner for the Washington Spirit against Portland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/alotofsportstalk.com\/wp2\/soccer\/117463\/holy-trinity-washington-spirit-vs-portland-thorns-08-03-25\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holy Trinity (Washington Spirit vs. Portland Thorns; 08.03.25)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Making her return to the field after four months out injured, Trinity Rodman scored the game winner for the Washington Spirit against Portland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/alotofsportstalk.com\/wp2\/soccer\/117463\/holy-trinity-washington-spirit-vs-portland-thorns-08-03-25\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Lot of Sports Talk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ALotOfSportsTalk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-04T01:27:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/alotofsportstalk.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Spirit-Thorns-2324716-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1891\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adesina O. 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